


First Day at Primp Magic School

by NintendoSegaNerd



Category: Puyo Puyo (Video Games)
Genre: Amitie thinks too much into things, Friendship, Gen, Humor, this is really old lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 12:05:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17662313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NintendoSegaNerd/pseuds/NintendoSegaNerd
Summary: Amitie had never gone to school in her life, though she'd always wanted to. What will await her there? Will it be everything she had ever hoped for? Or will she have to rediscover her dream on being the most wonderful magician in the world? DISCLAIMER: I don't own SEGA characters. Otherwise, hello! For some reason I never thought of getting an account here in Archive. This is REALLY FRICKING OLD and the characters sound kinda young for my taste but hey! Enjoy anyways!





	1. The Front Doors

Chapter 1

Amitie could scarcely believe that this day had finally arrived, the day that she had been dreaming about since... as long as she could remember, actually. Her birthday, May 5th, was yesterday, and she had wasted absolutely no time getting prepared for her future as a 13 year old. She was getting ready for school!

Yay! She could almost imagine how excited the students get!

The Primp Town Magic School, where she could fulfill her dream- of becoming the most wonderful magician in the whole wide world. The best, top of the class. Amitie had never gone to school before now, as all of her basic know-how was taught by her mother. She'd only heard of school through her childhood friends back where she used to live, on the other side of the continent. She and her mother had moved to Primp Town in order to find a livelier neighborhood and a better job. As Amitie gazed outside her window at the blue skies and the cute cottages dotting the green countryside, she couldn't imagine being anywhere more perfect.

Donning her oldest and most comfortable item, her Red Puyo Hat, she stepped out into a world of new beginnings.

oOo

"Let's see... Magic School... Magic School.." Amitie hiked up the path to town. "M-A-G-I-C... School?" she scurries over to a large gated property, with large buildings and puyo statues everywhere. "This must be it!"

After pushing the gate open, Amitie stepped inside the school grounds. In the courtyard, students of the school were chatting, laughing, and puyo battling, just as Amitie imagined it. She could feel her excitement bubbling up inside her.

"Oh my gosh, this is so amazing! I can't wait to see the inside!" She hummed as she swung her arms happily. At the doors, two students were hard at work on some math. Amitie considered introducing herself. The more people she became friends with, the better, right?

"Hi there!" Amitie waved cheerfully at the students. One looked up, glanced at his homework with a wince, and then tentatively waved back. Amitie skipped up to them. "Whatcha got there? Math? Wowee, those look tough. I don't think I could do that."

The boy muttered to himself. Amitie leaned down. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

"I'm sure you wouldn't." He said carefully through clenched teeth, declining to a visibly annoyed state that Amitie ignored.

"Oh, hey, pretty sure that's not right. That one. Number 4." Amitie pointed before shrugging. "Aaaaaanyways, my name's Amitie, what's yours?"

The boy and his friend appeared to be so uncomfortable you could cut the tension with a knife. "Uh... look, lady, I need to study...? We have this huge math test tomorrow."

"Yeah, sorry, I do too." his friend added quickly.

"Oh... Oh! I'm so sorry!" Amitie jumped back with embarrassment. "Er, I'll just be, uh, finding my class... I'm new and all, don't wanna be late and... stuff..."

As she left, she mentally punched herself. She must've sounded like such a nuisance to those students. She really should work on her timing next time so she didn't make such of a fool of herself...

Shaking the encounter off, she pushed open the Primp Town Magic School doors and walked inside. Her boots clip-clopped on the newly polished floor and fresh morning light shone in through the windows. As she walked down the main hall, eyes sparkling with wonder, a black splotch flew into her face. She halted and shivered, and for a half a second, it registered to her that the splotch was not just a splotch, it was indeed...

A bug. A big, black, scary, gross beetle. And it was on her face.

The squeal that rang out could have been heard on the other side of the school. Amitie spun around and collided into another figure, who squeaked and Amitie heard the sound of glass breaking. The beetle, in a panic, flew off her nose and down a hallway. Amitie rubbed her face with her sleeve, trying to get rid of the chills that infested her body and the queasiness of being THAT CLOSE to the biggest bug she'd ever seen.

"AUGHHHH!" A disgusted groan of disbelief broke Amitie from the spell.

In her charade, Amitie didn't look up to see who she ran into. But whoever it was, was shaking and wasn't happy. A girl, definitely taller than her, with flowing pink hair and warm orange clothes, gave off a radiance of importance.

And a radiance of disgust, too. "Look what you DID to my BRAND NEW uniform!" the girl shouted. She was holding her shirt out and examining it. Amitie backed away and saw that the shirt was soaked through with a purple liquid. "I just had this cleaned! Do you know how long it takes those stupid cleaners to wash something? I'm going to be uniform-less for weeks!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Amitie panicked. "What can I do? How do I fix this?"  
The girl growled. "Nothing! You've done enough, you clumsy... Who are you, anyway?!"

"A-A-A-Amitie!" Something about the girl was genuinely scaring Amitie, like she knew she crossed a line she shouldn't have crossed.

"Amitie, is it? Well, guess what. You just spilled the potion I was delivering to Ms. Accord all over my, the lovely Raffina's, uniform. I can't be seen like this!" the girl, Raffina wailed.

"I-I- Well, uh- I mean-"

"Never mind!" Raffina glared at Amitie before pushing past her. "I don't have time for meddlesome fools like you! I'm going to be late for class." she said as she walked away. "...Well, Amitie, you better pray you don't cross me again."

After a minute of standing there, staring at the back of the third person Amitie failed to befriend right off the bat, Amitie felt guilty and shameful. She turned and helped clean up the broken glass carefully before trudging down a hallway, not bothering to ask anyone else for directions to her first class with Ms. Accord. 

oOo

"How long have I been searching?" Amitie groaned and walked down yet another hallway, exactly the same as the last one. "This school is like one giant maze."

She took a drink at the water fountain nearby and allowed the cold water to clear her thoughts. Sure, so this morning didn't really work out, but maybe once she can get the ball rolling with her classes, there'd be people who would want to be friends with her. As she came up for air, she felt someone tap her shoulder.

"Hi."

Amitie spun around, nearly whacking the person with her hair. Nearly. The person standing there didn't seem to be bothered at all, though, he merely seemed lost in thought.

"Hi?" Amitie prompted, allowing silence to befall the two of them. The boy had distinct cyan-colored hair and a tired face, as if he hadn't slept in a while. Something red by his waist caught her eye, and she gasped as she realized that the red was his left hand- it was a big scarlet claw, hanging limply and asymmetrically to his other, normal hand.

"Do you..." the boy spoke again, snapping Amitie out of her thoughts. "...know where the biology room is?"

"The... what?" Amitie gave him an odd look. It should've been pretty obvious that she was the one who was new and was lost. How was she supposed to know where it was?

"Bio..." The boy shook his head and forced himself to stay focused. Amitie blinked. His right eye was blue and his left eye was red. What an odd boy. "The bio room, I left my bug in there, accidentally... I guess you could call her a ladybug.  S he's this high." he gave a surprisingly big scale size with his hands. All Amitie could see was his red claw, however.

"Th...The bio room. Yeah, sorry. I'm as lost as you are." Amitie told him with a sheepish grin, still staring at his claw.

The boy's face fell. "Oh, okay, then. Bye."

"O....kay, bye!" Amitie waved as he left, when it hit her. "Uh, wait! Do you know where Ms. Accord's room is?!"

If the strange boy heard, he gave no notice. Amitie sighed with defeat but also curiosity at him. He must be, like, half monster or something. She'd never heard of something like that, and monsters tend to be loud and scary. The boy didn't seem scary at all... more absent. Like a part of him wasn't there.

  



	2. The Classroom

Chapter 2

Amitie stood at a door, the door she had been searching for forever, and sighed. She was so, so late, who even knew if Ms. Accord was teaching right now. But the door had her name on it and it was better late than never so Amitie prepared to knock.

But just as she was about to, a muffled sing-song voice echoed in her ears. "The door's unlocked, my girl, you can come in."

Amitie jumped, startled, and peeked into the doorframe. She didn't know how the person, whoever it was, could tell she was there. There were no windows on the door or anything. Nonetheless, Amitie took a deep breath and made sure to straighten her Puyo hat before she opened the door and tip-toed inside.

"Uh-um..." Amitie cleared her throat. "Ms. Accord?"

"Yes, that would be me. And you must be Amitie." A slender women with bouncy purple curls swept down her white, pope's like gown. Her spectacles glinted in the light and revealed kind eyes. "An hour late to the class, true, but at least you came."

Amitie gasped. "An-an hour late?!"

"Ohoho... Fear not. It doesn't matter now. Were you lost?" Ms. Accord chuckled.

"I- yes! This school is like a giant maze! I could barely find the bathrooms!" Amitie scratched her head, embarrassed.

Her new teacher smiled to herself. "...It's only like a maze if you let it... In any case, Amitie, stand over here, if you please. Allow me to introduce you to your new classmates."

Amitie stiffened. In all of the awkwardness, she completely forgot that she had walked in on a class. She turned and saw faces staring at her. She looked away and attempted to nonchalantly walk to Ms. Accord.

Fate just doesn't work that way.

As she stiffly moved, a desk just had to be right out of her hindsight. And in front of her boot. She tripped before she knew it was too late to stop herself.

"Ah!" she fell and the class snorted and giggled. Amitie, on the floor, could feel the eyes burning into her skull. She was aware of her face heating up.

Immediately she hopped up. "Aha... I'm ok!" she laughed it off, but she couldn't shake the embarrassment off her back.

Ms. Accord gave her a sympathetic smile. "Alright, class. Calm down. As I've told you, Amitie is a new transfer student all the way across the continent. She's studying here to become a magician, like her mother. Please be kind."

She waved at the crowd. "Take whatever seat you want, Amitie."

"Okiedokie." Amitie swung around into the first desk she saw so she wouldn't have to embarrass herself again. Oh boy... way to go on the first impressions, Ami...

As Ms. Accord continued the lesson on Puyo chains, Amitie replayed the entire morning in her head. In her mind, she pretended that she didn't talk to those two boys at all; then she calmly plucked the bug off her nose; Raffina's outfit wouldn't have gotten ruined, who knew, maybe they'd have been friends if she acted differently; she had asked for directions to Ms. Accords room; and told the cyan-boy where the biology room is, just to be nice.

But that's not what happened. She did screw up. She was being a clutz. This kind of thing always seemed to happen to her on the days she could make or break a friendship. Sigh.

To distract herself, she looked around the room at her classmates. There was a small girl, with green hair pulled up into two buns. She glanced at her from time to time, her strangely shaped ears twitching with embarrassment when she was caught. She glanced away quickly.

Amitie took note of a boy in glasses seemingly studying a book with buzzing red energy swirling about it. Amitie tried to feel the radiation from where she sat, and what she received was crackling anger and impatience. She shuddered violently and stopped. That tingling feeling was very strange.

Scanning the room, she thought she saw a glimpse of blue, cyan to be precise, which almost made her feel better. At least she had one person in this class who was more or less nice to her. She tried to make sure it was the boy from earlier, but a huge hulking figure was sitting in front of the possible suspect. When she said hulking, she meant it. His head almost touched the ceiling. She wondered if he had any giant relatives.

She scanned the room one more time, and she didn't see the angry pink girl. That made her feel much more comfortable. She didn't want a crazed shallow lady breathing down her back.

"...Okay, class, you're free to take a break. I'm going to run something down to the office, I'll be right back."

Ms. Accord's words snapped Amitie out of her discovering. The lesson! Shoot, Amitie forgot to pay attention. Being in school was certainly different than taking things at your own pace. Ms. Accord swept past Amitie and gave her a reassuring smile before sashaying out the door.

Amitie stood up in her desk, prepared to re-introduce herself to her classmates, but to her immense surprise, no one seemed to be paying any mind to her. With a nervous smile she addressed the green haired girl sitting in her row. 

"Uh... hi there."

The girl just gave her a wide-eyed "meep!" and quickly excused herself. "I-I-I n-need to go to...uh, the b...bathroom! Nice to meet you, bye!" and she sprinted out.

Amitie sat there awkwardly, her hand raised in a half-wave. With a determined shake of her head, she tried again with the glasses kid.

"Hi! Nice book you got-" 

"Nope." The kid turned his back to her rudely and continue to study. Amitie could feel the boil of frustration now. Why were the people in this school so touchy and unlikable? This was ridiculous!

Amitie stood up with a fake smile and prepared herself, again, to find someone she could be friends with. Getting out of her desk, she backed up too far and into a wall.

Oops. Not a wall. The giant.

Amitie jumped forward with a squeak of embarrassment. "Sorry, sorry, my bad!"

The giant looked down and studied her. "Are you Amitie?" he rumbled.

"Er- yeah. The one and only!" Amitie laughed off the uncomfortableness of talking to a 7 foot student. The giant scratched his head.

"My name is TaruTaru. Pardon my friends Lidelle and Klug here. They aren't very good with new students." TaruTaru enunciated each word slowly. Amitie felt a tremendous wash of relief that finally, she wasn't screwing up a first encounter. It was also nice hearing that she shouldn't take things personally with the other two.

"No, no it's okay! No worries. Truth is, I'm not very good meeting new people myself. It's nice to know that I'm not alone, because I'm such a clutz and all, ha..." Amitie's voice trailed off awkwardly, not sure what to say to the big fellow.

TaruTaru did the speaking for her. "Maybe things would have been different if you've met my close friend first. She's the most amazing, wonderful, beautiful, powerful girl on the planet..." He closed his eyes and traveled to la-la land.

Amitie giggled. "Aw, she's sounds like a nice person! I wish I could've met her first too, the way you speak of her!"

"Indeed... She has a flawless face... and stunning attacks... There's no doubt if you've seen her already, you'd know who it is..."

"Really?" Amitie smiled at the giant, finding it cute to hear him blabbering about his crush.

"Really... Raffina is the best."  
Amitie smiled. "That's grea- WAIT WHAT."

At that completely untimed moment, the door burst open and in walked little-miss-orange-and-pink herself. Pushing aside glasses boy's desk, she waltzed over to Taru. "Did I hear my name?"

"Insightful as always, Raffine." Taru smiled down at her, barely hiding his blush. Amitie pointed at him, than her, than him again with her mouth agog.

From the corner, Amitie could hear the quiet scowl and mutter coming from glasses boy. "How could you, the door was closed. You're just so caught up in yourself that you hear your name everywhere."

Raffina's eyes sharpened and she whipped her head around. "I can hear you." She growled warningly.

Her victim didn't bother giving her the time of day. "And what'd you hear? Raffina, oh the glorious pompous Raffina is walking in now, bow down to her. Look, whatever," he added before Raffina could explode in his face. "I'm busy. 'Sides, there's someone new here. Maybe she can give you a lesson on ettiquette."

"Someone new?" Raffina turned around again, noticing Amitie for the first time. Immediately her eyes traveled to her own ruined uniform and her nose crinkled with disgust. With a thick layer of venom she spat at the small blond girl. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here."  
Amitie winced. "H-hey, Raffina. Nothing, you know, it's my first day of school and this is my class. What about you? I'm super sorry about your shirt."

Raffina laughed without humor. "Oh you're sorry, huh? Who even invited you to this school? Anyone who knows this school knows that I'm class valedictorian for 2 years in a row. How dare you apologize to me in such a lowly manner?!"

Amitie could feel smaller by the second. "W-well..."

"Another thing." Raffina got dangerously close to her face. "As class valedictorian, I have the ability to get rid of you. One way or another, I will, if you don't stay out of my way. Do we understand each other?"

Amitie hesitated a second too long before Raffina grabbed her shirt, causing glasses boy and TaruTaru to gasp. "Well? Do you?!"

"Eep!" Amitie tried pushing her away and felt her hands heating up. With no control whatsoever, Amitie watched as a fireball exploded from her hands and into Raffina's face.

The amount of chaos ensued was indescribable. Amitie stumbled back into Taru again, coughing up smoke and eyes watering. Raffina was thrown into the glasses boy's desk, her hair a wild, charred disaster. Amitie heard a scream and gazed about as the smoke cleared.

Raffina was a mess. Her face had turned black with char and smoke, and her dress was in tatters, far worse than just a simple spilling. She was examining her arms and legs with her mouth agape, trying to find the words.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" she finally screamed at Amitie.

Amitie sat there, staring at her hands, still steaming from the fireball. This had only happened a few times before, each time when she felt threatened. One of her hopes was that she'd learn to control her powers at school. But it seems as though school had made things worse for her.

She looked up slowly and tried to stutter out an apology for the umpteenth time that day, when the glasses boy stood up and squeezed past Raffina, who was sprawled on his desk. Amitie had just enough time to think, great, now two people think I'm a freak, when his face broke into a grin and he let out a laugh.

Amitie wasn't sure what to do. Why on earth was he laughing? He continued to chuckle long after all the attention was on him.

"And just WHAT is so funny, Four-Eyes?!" Raffina snapped.

The boy coughed into his shirt, a cunning grin on his face. "It's just that I'll never miss an opportunity to see you so humiliated." an outraged gasp escaped from the ruined girl. The boy turned back to Amitie and helped her stand up. "My name is Klug. Excuse me for being so rude earlier, but you've really earned my respect now. My guess is you've had a previous run in with her-highness-the-raging-bull earlier?"  
Amitie grinned sheepishly at his newfound interest in her. "Yeah, actually. I accidentally spilt a potion on her dress... It was my fault."

Klug snorted. "Spilt a... Brilliant. That outta teach her some humility. Then again, she's so selfish that I doubt even ruining her clothes can scratch that pride."

"I'm not selfish!" Raffina argued, rubbing her face with a cloth.

"She's not selfish!" TaruTaru said simultaneously. Amitie skootched out of the way of his newfound anger. Taru grabbed Klug by the shirt. "You take that back!"

Immediately Amitie could tell that Klug was regretting his words. "Er- now let's not be hasty, big fella, I'm merely saying that this experience can only help her- that's a-alllLLLAAAHHH!" his voice escalated to extremely high-pitched as Taru threw him across the room.

Raffina huffed and stood up. "Now THAT outta teach HIM how to treat a lady. Wish I could've done that myself, but... Nobody insults me and gets away with it!"

Klug groaned from his run-in with the wall. "I am SURROUNDED by bullish fiends."

Amitie backed out of the way of the scene, hoping the attention wouldn't be drawn to her again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the cyan-boy from behind TaruTaru's hulking frame giving her a curious look, as if he had just noticed that there had been an explosion in the classroom and that she might have been the cause of it. Amitie doesn't bother giving him a weak grin, as her energy was pretty much spent. She wandered out of the room and sat outside in the hallway with a sigh.

If she was the cause for such a fight, how would she survive the rest of her school days?

  



	3. Lunchtime

Chapter 3

The bell for lunch rang, and everyone immediately sprang up to head outside. Wearily, Amitie followed. She had packed a lunch from home, along with her favorite dessert, angel-food cake. Amitie took immense pride in her ability to make angel-food cake, since it was pretty much the only desert she could make. The thought of her cake almost made her feel better. Almost. As soon as she stepped outside, however, loneliness overtook her as she observed the students drawing to each other in little cliques and friend groups. She saw the little green girl from earlier and waved hesitantly to her, but the girl avoided her gaze. Disheartened, Amitie trudged over to the school wall and sat down.

She never felt so awkward and inexperienced in her life. Throughout her childhood, she had made it a point to always be positive. Look at life optimistically, and some way or another, it'll all end up ok.

If this day proved anything, is that keeping a positive attitude was easier said than done. Amitie sighed and forced herself to smile. Fake smiling automatically makes someone happier. As she pulled out a sandwich she made for lunch, Amitie noticed a shadow passing over her. Looking up, the green girl was standing there, trying hard to hide her face with her too-long sleeves.

"Um... Hello..."

Amitie was taken back by the sudden greeting. She gave her a surprised and a confused grin. "Hi!"

The girl appeard to shrink into her dress. "D-do you mind... if I sit here? I mean, it's okay if you don't want me too, I just thought- um- you looked kinda lonely, and so- I mean, about earlier- I guess what I'm trying to say is-" she came up for air, realizing that she was making no sense. "I'm sorry! For b-being so rude... back in class... I'm just so shy, and when you started talking to me, my body shut down, and-"

"Whoah, whoah, woah, it's okay!" Amitie waved her hands reassuringly. "I'm sorry I was so forward!"

The girl sighed with relief. "Really? Are you sure? It was on m-my mind all day. So I c-can sit here?"

"Absolutely!" Amitie's mood lifted immensely and she felt like bursting with happiness. She was actually making a friend! "I'm Amitie! What's your name?"

"L...Lidelle." she murmured. "So have you been having a hard time today, Miss Amitie?"

"Miss Amitie? Come on, Lidelle, you can just call me Amitie!" suddenly feeling bold, she added, "Or Ami. I like Ami, too! And a hard time, well, you could say that..." Amitie let out a flat laugh, allowing the lie to lie heavy on her tongue.

Lidelle fidgeted. "Again, I'm really sorry... I know how you f-feel. I have a hard time fitting in as well. I always m-mess something up. Sometimes I think its b-better not to try talking to people at all than to risk rejectment."

Amitie gave Lidelle a curious look. "But if you don't try at all, how do you know you're not missing out on something amazing?" After a moment of thought, she smiled at her. "I do get it, a lot actually, only I try to befriend as many people as possible. I guess I just do something wrong."

Lidelle smiled back. "You and me both... You know, Amitie- er, Ami, I saw your s-spirit right away. I'm almost jealous." she looked away for a second, before turning back. "If only I c-could s-speak like that, with such confidence."

"Ohhh, you shouldn't want to be like me. That's really sweet of you, though." Amitie changed the subject, not wanting Lidelle to feel so down on herself. "I like your hair. Those buns are super cute!"  
Lidelle immediately covered the buns with her sleeves. "Oh, you do? Thank you..."

Amitie gave her an odd look. "Are you trying to hide them?"

"N-no. Of course not." she quickly hid her sleeves between her knees with embarrassment and and slight reluctance. "What makes you say that?"  
"Er..." Amitie leaned in closer and noticed something odd with the buns. Out of the center of each one, poked a tiny yellow horn. "What are those?"

"What are-" Lidelle looked up where Amitie pointed and 'meeped' loudly. "N-n-nothing! Those are nothing!" She turned around and hastily fluffed up the buns, obscuring them messily. "See? Nothing! Nothing at all!"

Amitie patted her shoulder. "Hey, Lidelle, don't be embarrassed. I'm just curious, is all." she smiled widely. "If I'm being too pushy, please let me know. I'll stop."

Lidelle gave her a forlorn gaze before sighing. "You really really want to know, d-don't you? A lot of people do... But maybe I should b-be more open about this. Oh boy... I don't think I can do this, b-but..." she took a deep breath and stared her with serious bright blue eyes. "I....I, er...I'm not actually h-human, Amitie."

The blond girl considered this and then pumped her fist. "I knew it!"

"I know it may seem hard to- wait a minute, you know?" Lidelle faltered. "H-h-how do you know?"

"Heh, just a feeling. So what are you, then?" Amitie paused and gasped. "Oh, sorry, that sounded inconsiderate! I meant-"

"It's okay, Amitie. I'm a p-part of a species of imps... I think. You see, the truth is, I haven't ever met anyone exactly like me." Lidelle eyes dropped. "My d-dream is to find someone out there in the world like me. That's why I'm here. I'm learning d-different kinds of travel, weather, and tracking magic. One day I will find that person, and I'll be able to have a family at last..." her voice trailed off.

Amitie gave her a reassuring glance. "I'm sure you'll find them."

Lidelle looked up in surprise. "You do? ...Y-y-you really do?"

She flashed her a peace sign. "Absolutely! Don't ever give up! Not ever!"

"I won't... I swear I won't. So, uh..." Lidelle started fidgeting again. "I was just wondering... Until then, c-c-can we be f...friends?"

Amitie was taken aback by the question. "O-of course! Yes!"

"Really...?"

"For sure!"  
"Yay...! Ohhh, th-that was a big weight off my chest." Lidelle sighed. "I'm g-glad you accept me, Amitie. Now I have two p-people in my life who understand. You and Sig."

Amitie blinked. "Who's Sig?"

Lidelle gave her an odd look. "Oh, I thought you m-met him already. He's in our class. He's really, really spacey and d-doesn't seem to care much about anything, but in reality, he's a super nice guy."

"Oh... hm... I don't think we've met." The blond girl pondered this and tried to picture the people in her class, but all she was coming up with was a blank.

Lidelle giggled. "T-trust me, you'd know if you had if you had talked to him. Anyway, the reason I b-brought him up is because he is a lot like me- he's half demon. He understands my reason for hiding my strange imp p-parts, but the difference between me and him is that he d-doesn't care about the demon side of him. Sometimes he even forgets he's... d-different. Kinda reminds me of you. You don't let your personality and the world control you. In any case, I'm grateful to you b-both."

Amitie continued to rack her brain. "Wow, half-demon? How come I haven't noticed him yet?"

"If it weren't for his arm and his eye, he'd almost b-blend in to his surroundings. That's how spacey he is. D-despite that, if there's one thing that can really get him excited, it's bugs. Bugs are a huge p-part of his life, for some odd reason." Lidelle explained.

Out of the blue, a voice butted in on their conversation. "Are you two talking about Sig?" Klug walked over to them, head held high. "That bug boy is just a weirdo in all standards of humanity. He takes things at his own pace, doesn't care about anything except BUGS, the nasty little critters, and he's not even a human! My book agrees," he added before Lidelle or Amitie could retort in defense. "Whenever Sig is near my book, it acts up. Like its drawn to him or something. It's all very odd."

Klug knelt down and gave Amitie a fierce stare. "Unless you're just drawn to weirdos, my suggestion is to not take too much of an interest in the bug boy."

"Er, okay." Amitie was taken aback by how fiercely he was against the oddness of the guy. "...Can I see that book?"

Klug allowed her to look at the cover. "It's an ancient book I found at the library. I keep checking it and rechecking it out, because it's so interesting. Inside, it talks about sealing evil spirits. I don't intend to try any of this, of course, but it's not just what's written that's so interesting, it's what comes with it... Are you listening?"

Truth was, she wasn't. Amitie instead raised her hand above the cover and tried to dig beneath the layers of magic for the strange sensation she felt earlier. When she did, the anger groped at her fingers, as if it were trying to escape.

"Wow." Amitie pulled her hand back in surprise. "There's something in that book."

"So you've felt it too." Klug said, sounding pleased. "That's some pretty powerful magic right there. Raffina the savage would be jealous. " after a moment of thought, he held out his hand. "Listen, Amitie. I'm sorry about before, back in the classroom. Let's start over. My name is Klug, and I'm here to become my idol, Lemres the warlock. And perhaps surpass him one day."

Amitie took his hand and shook it hard with a grin. "I'm Amitie!"

"I know. Amitie, what do you want to become? What do you wish to be?"

"What do I..." Amitie thought about it. "I want to become a wonderful magician, but I don't know what my specialties are yet."

Lidelle suddenly jumped in. "Hey, look! I th-think that's Sig, over there!"

Amitie followed her gaze and her eyes locked on a familiar cyan-head who was slowly walking, seemingly like he wasn't going anywhere. She blinked, and peered closer at his left red claw. "Hey, wait a minute! That's the guy I ran into in the hallway! That's Sig?"

"So you HAVE met him." Lidelle nodded. "Yes, that would b-be Sig."

In response, Amitie stood up and waved to Sig. "Hey there!"

The boy either didn't hear her or if he did he didn't respond. Klug growled with annoyance. "Figures that guy is so lost in thought he can't hear anything. I'll get him."

With a huff, he stood up and stomped over to Sig. Sig let out a surprised noise as Klug grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the little group. 

"What...?" Sig asked him as he was dragged over.

"It's about time you start paying attention to people." Klug scolded him. "Okay, Sig, this is Amitie. She's new. Not that you'd notice."

Amitie glanced up at his face with curiosity. The blue eye and the red eye were rather hypnotizing, but she forced herself to stay focused. With a friendly grin, she stood up and held out a hand. "Hiya! I'm Amitie! We've met once already."

Sig blinked at her, either lost in thought again, or trying to remember. "...Oh yeah... You're the girl who didn't know where the bio room was. Right?"

Amitie put her hand down, seeing that Sig was in no hurry to shake her hand, and scratched her head in an embarrassed fashion. "Well, yeah, it's because I'm new. I've never been to the bio room before. Anyways, did you find your bug?"

To her and everyone's surprise, Sig's face broke into a wide smile. "Yeah! I did." he reached up and plucked something off his head. Cradling it in his hands, he showed it off to Amitie. "Her name is Laila. She's really pretty."

Amitie peered into his cupped hands with fascination and saw a surprisingly bright red ladybug. The sunlight glinted off her wings. "Wow! She's so red! All the ladybugs I see are a pale orange."

Lidelle cocked her head at Amitie's sudden interest. "Wow, Ami, aren't you afraid? Bugs can be pretty creepy."

Amitie shook her head. "I don't like it if a bug is on me, but naw, I don't have a problem looking at them."

Sig seemed rather happy by the prospect. "That's good... No one else here likes bugs much. It's kinda sad."

"That's because they're gross and dangly!" Klug broke in with a glare at Sig. "Honestly, Sig, you're absolutely terrible with people. You'd only like them if they liked bugs too!"

Sig shrugged, but he did look kind of hurt, Amitie noticed. Lidelle appeared as though she was about to retort to that, but she sighed and said, "Well, Mr. K-Klug, aren't you kind of the same way? I mean... you only enjoy people who understand what you're s-saying half the time."

"Excuse me?" Klug's face turned violet with rage. "I'll have you know-"

"Meep!" Lidelle jumped behind Amitie for protection.

Amitie waved her arms at the three students. "Whoa, hey! Guys, come on! Klug, I'm bad with people too. It's nothing to be ashamed of! Looks like all of us have something in common! ...Right, Sig?"

Sig had zoned out again. "Uh... yeah. Sure." And with that, he plopped down onto the dirt and placed Laila on his head. Amitie, along with Lidelle, followed suite.

oOo

Amitie chatted and laughed with her newfound friends the whole lunch break. She couldn't believe her luck. How on earth did any of this happen? And how could she be so blessed with such cute friends? Lidelle, in all her fidgety-ness, constantly spoke as though she was worried she was going to hurt someone with her voice. Klug pushed his glasses up and would give a thorough explanation on Puyo basics, even if everyone already knew them. Sig was just lying in the dirt, watching a tiny anthill, and he'd put in his input if someone spoke to him.

The blond girl had completely forgot about a certain pink-haired menace.

From behind the group, Amitie heard a shout. "For the LAST TIME, Taru, I'm not interesting in staying after school to work on sorting papers! If you need help, ask the stupid glasses kid! I have to go to my work-out!"

Amitie blinked and turned around. Raffina was stomping toward them angrily, TaruTaru close behind, seemingly arguing with her. Raffina had cleaned herself up from that morning's disaster, and she wore the gym uniform in place of her dress. Amitie swallowed carefully and considered waving her over. Maybe she could start over with her, like she did with her new friends?

Before she or anyone else could stop her, Amitie waved. "Hey, Raffina! Over here!"

Raffina halted in her tracks, and after seeing Amitie, spun around to go in the opposite direction. However, TaruTaru was still in her way, so with a reluctant sigh she trudged over to the group.

Everyone seemed surprised to see her. Raffina lifted her head, and with some effort, muttered. "Hello, everyone."

Sig lifted his head. "Oh... it's Waffeena."

She flinched violently. "Raffina! For the last time, Sig, RAFFINA! R-A-F-F-I-N-A! With an R, not a W! You idiotic..."

Sig shrugged with a slight grin. "Whatever you say, Rufwina."

"Anyways!" Amitie said loudly. "Wanna join us, Raffina?"

Raffina stared her down and narrowed her eyes. In that moment Amitie knew that she wasn't even close to forgiven yet. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Oh come on, Raffina." Klug rolled his eyes. "Quit being such a drama queen. Amitie's just trying to be courteous."

Instead of responding, Raffina gave each of them a once-over. After a long minute, she let out a haughty laugh. "I must say, Amitie, I'm impressed. How on earth did you become so buddy-buddy with everyone, as destructive as you are?"

Everyone gasped and gave Raffina a shocked glare. "Whoa, whoa, where did that come from, Raf? That was just plain nasty." Klug gaped at her.

"Miss Raffina... Amitie is a wonderful person... Have you even t-tried getting to know her?" Lidelle added, face turning red as she tried to defend her new friend.

Sig let out a murmur of disagreement as well. "Amitie is nice. She said nice things to us..."

Amitie gave Raffina an exasperated look as she tried to think of the best way to respond. She certainly was grateful to her friends for sticking up for her, but Raffine did have a point. She wasn't sure how she did earn them. "... I guess I was just lucky!" She smiled widely.

Klug still wasn't done. "You know Raffina, you really are one to talk. You act like a savage mule during your training! If anyone is destructive, it's you!"

Raffina clenched her fist and shouts at Klug. "How dare you! I'm a perfectly fine, highly sophisticated, pleasant lady who won't hesitate to kick your butt if the need arrives!"  
"You just proved my point. Again."

"How about you get a taste of the point of my boot, then?!"

"Still acting like a savage."

"I AM NOT A SAVAGE!!"

As they bickered, and the attention was completely off of Amitie, she leaned in and whispered to Lidelle. "...Did I do that?"

Lidelle merely giggled. "No, d-don't worry about it. They argue like this all the time. This just happened to be the p-perfect opportunity to start up another one."

"...You know what? Sometimes I just can't stand you!" Raffina shouted.

"The feeling is incredibly mutual!"  
"Okay, I'm so done with this." Raffina let out a growl and pushed past Amitie. "And you: keep your stupid magic at a low if you don't want to kill somebody next time!"

Amitie, taken aback, stares at her hands as she leaves. They felt normal. No magic radiated off of them. But as she looked about at her friends, she felt a knot of fear ravel in her stomach. What if the same thing happens again, this time, to a friend? What if it's more powerful?

What if... it... kills them?

Suddenly, Amitie felt constricted by the people around her. She needed air. 

They were busy talking in low voices amongst themselves. She could slip away quietly. But before she could, Lidelle looked up at her and gave her a weak smile. "Don't listen to her, Amitie. I'm sure she didn't mean any of this. She's just angry. Deep down, she's actually a really nice person."

"I'm... not... worried." Amitie stumbled over the words, still thinking about her hands. "I-I just- look guys, I... need some air."

"Wait, what?" Klug blinked at her. "Amitie, if it's what Raffina said-"

"N-no! It's not! I just-" Amitie stopped and then sprinted away, not wanting to deal with this anymore. She called back, "I'll catch up with you guys later!"

  



	4. A Talk

Chapter 4

All throughout the afternoon classes, Amitie couldn't stay focused. She was aware of her friends giving her odd and worried looks, but she avoided their gazes. She just couldn't stop thinking about her hands and her magic. Ms. Accord continued the lessons without giving a hint that she knew something was wrong. Amitie was glad. She didn't want to explain herself right now.

After the classes, Amitie stayed at her desk while the kids started packing up. Lidelle came up to her, and was about to get her attention, when she decided against it. Slowly she trudged away.

As Ms. Accord prepared to walk out of the classroom, she noticed Amitie still at her desk. "Is something the matter, Miss Amitie?"

Amitie jumped. "N-no ma'am! Sorry, sorry, just lost in thought, I guess." 

"Mm-hmm." Ms. Accord walked over and sat in the desk next to her. "I'll take a penny for your thoughts, then."

"Oh no, you don't have to..." Amitie's voice trailed off, and her eyes stuck onto her hands again. "Actually... Ms. Accord?"

"Yes?"

"Do you ever worry? About death?"

"Yes."

"You do?" The blond girl blinked.

Ms. Accord let out a slight chuckle. "Who doesn't, at one point or another? Although, I find it most comforting that even in death, I'll be able to see all of my loved ones again, if I truly believe it to be so."

Amitie considered this. "Hmm... Ms. Accord?"

"Yes?"

"What if...wh-what if..." Amitie could feel a sob catch in her throat. She couldn't say it. But she knew she had to. "What if you're the cause of that death? How can you be comforted? How can you not feel guilty?"

Ms. Accord gave her a concerned frown. "My goodness, what a suddenly deep question. Amitie, has something happened?"

"It's my magic. It's my magic, Ms. Accord!" Amitie suddenly felt a rush of emotions: discouragement, sadness, and above all, fear. "I'm terrified, c-cause it blows up when I feel like I'm in danger- a-and I'm worried for my new friends, because- because-" with a deep breath, she shouted. "What if I explode again and my powers k-k-ki... I can't say the word... them?!"

Amitie dropped her head on her desk, aware that her body was shaking. Ms. Accord sat there, allowing the girl to compose herself. Amitie didn't want to compose herself. She wanted to sit there and cry. She wished she didn't have magic. She was stupid to think that she could become a magician. Raffine was right, she was so, so right. 

After a minute of sniffling, Ms. Accord placed her hand on top of hers. "Amitie... you're right to be so worried about your friends. But magic isn't like that. It isn't as violent and dangerous as you make it out to be. Magic follows the heart. If the heart doesn't wish harm on anyone, then so it's magic shall be. Your magic will never to be the cause of a death. Never. You have to trust your heart to act correctly, and although it takes a little bit of practice, magic can be wonderful."

Amitie looked up at her with red and puffy eyes. Ms. Accord placed a hand on her cheek. "And I can tell, Amitie, that you have a wonderful heart. You should want to keep following your dream. After all, dreams are the fuel that drives a person. And what is your dream again, child?"

"T-to be..." Amitie couldn't think straight. "I don't know..."

Ms. Accord thought for a second. "Amitie. Have you ever considered why Raffina is the way she is to you?"

Amitie bolted up. "Wh-what? How do you know about-"

"I have my ways."

"Well, I," Amitie considered this. "I don't know. I just thought it was because I was clumsy and ruined her clothes. That's not it?"

"Partially, but not all." Ms. Accord chuckled. "It's because of your magic, Amitie. Your magic comes so naturally to you, even without any training. Raffina doesn't have that luxury."

"She doesn't?!"

"No, in fact, she be powerless without a key item she carries. Her bag. Have you noticed it?"

Amitie sat down. "No I haven't."

"That's the source of her magic. Magic doesn't dwell inside her like yours does. She has to work hard to draw it out, with long hours of training and practicing her martial arts. Hard work was what earned her the title of class valedictorian for two years in row. Now, when she first saw your power... It was like an insult to her efforts. She wants to be you, Amitie, but she can't. And so she hates you for it." Ms. Accord gave her a sad smile.

Amitie was shocked. "I never knew."

"There are many things you don't know about your friends, but that's quite alright, Amitie. I know you're afraid for them, but they can help you." Ms. Accord knelt beside her. "The best part of having friends is that there is so much about them to be discovered. Discovery and curiosity is what makes people learn and grow. And in order to be the most wonderful magician, you not only have much to discover about your friends, you'll find you have much to discover about yourself."

Amitie gave her a big warm smile. "Thank you, Ms. Accord. Thank you so, so much."

"Of course, Amitie. I look forward to future classes with you." Ms. Accord smiled back, and showed her to the door. "Remember to not be an hour late for tomorrow!"  
"Thank you! I will!" Amitie skipped outside, once again in high spirits. This school year was starting to look brighter already.

oOo

Outside of the school, Amitie wandered off in the direction of a field of flowers. She wanted to stop by to pick some flowers for home as some kind of celebratory gift for finishing her first day of school, ever.

She smiled to herself. Sure, this morning was really rough, but in the matter of what, an hour, she had made three new friends, maybe four if you include TaruTaru who wasn't incredibly rude to her either. Out of those encounters, she still had to befriend Raffina, which was much easier said than done.

Amitie genuinely felt bad for Raffina. All of the stuff she said and did, it was because Amitie had just trampled on her magical ability, even if Amitie didn't know it herself. She wished there was a way she could apologize to her sincerely. Maybe she likes flowers too.

At the edge of the field, Amitie stood, gazing at the wildflowers bustling and flowing in the wind. In the distance, she heard the tweeting of birds high in their perches, and the low drone of cicadas in the heat. She swished in, and started to pick flowers.

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a flash of blue. Amitie blinked, and squinted at the field. Sure enough, something blue was lying down in the field.

Amitie stepped lightly over, and gasped when she realized it was Sig. "Sig! What are you doing?" she knelt down by him, he was just lying there, facing the sky. His eyes were wide open, yet he seemed to not see Amitie. Amitie waved a hand across his face. Still nothing.

"What the heck?" she mused to herself. With a shrug, she booped his nose. "Boop! Hey, Sig, are you in la-la-land or something?"

Sig shuddered and blinked, albeit slowly. He turned his head and saw Amitie sitting next to him. He let out a groan and sat up and stretched. "A-Amitie?" he asked through a yawn. "What's up?"

"Well, you completely spacing out for one." Amitie giggled uncertainly.

"Sleeping." he corrected, and yawned again. "I was asleep."

Amitie scratched her head, confused. "What-a-what? Sleeping?! But you had your eyes open the whole time!"

"I did...?" Sig shrugged. "Huh. Weird."

Amitie gave him an odd look. Could Sig, along with being half-demon, sleep with his eyes open? Definitely strange. But she pushed that aside, in any case. "Anyway, Sig, this is good timing. I want your opinion on how I should apologize to Raffina. Any ideas?"

He flopped back down onto the imprint of grass he had created. After an incredibly long moment of silence, Amitie almost thought he forgot the question, he spoke. "Why?"

"Why...? Why what?"

"...Should you apologize to Reyafina? She was the one who was so rude." he pointed out.

"Oh... yeah, about that. I think I kind of hurt her feelings? Kind of? It wasn't on purpose, I swear, but there was this whole thing about her not having any magic and I do, and I guess I insulted her or something, but I didn't MEAN to insult her, I would never, and then-"

"Hold up." Sig gave Amitie a curious look. "...No magic?"

Amitie inwardly facepalmed. Shoot! She didn't mean to say anything! "Er- nothing! I said nothing! You didn't hear anything! Especially not about Raffina having no magic!"

Sig stared at her for a long time, longer than Amitie felt comfortable with. It seemed as though Sig was trying to make sense of the many emotions plastered on Amitie's face. Amitie fidgeted, replaying her words in her head, when she realized...

"OH SHOOT!" this time she really did facepalm. "I didn't mean to say-!"

Sig's mouth twitched and he broke into a grin. And to Amitie's eternal surprise, the ever-spacey-and-emotionless-bug-boy started to laugh. Like, genuinely laugh, as if whatever Amitie said was funny, which it wasn't, it was embarrassing.

Amitie was shocked speechless. Sig's laugh was quiet, and a little unsure, but it was still there. He seemed surprised at himself, too. 

"...Are you done?" Amitie blurted out, a little miffed that he was laughing at her. Sig stopped and shook his head, turning away, a small smile still on his face.

"...Heh. That was funny."

"Well, glad you're enjoying yourself. I wasn't supposed to tell you that! If word of this gets out, I'm going to be in even worse trouble with Raffina than before." Amitie pulled her sidebangs worriedly. 

"You sound scared of Wefiena." He mused.

Amitie flopped into the grass in exasperation. "Well, yeah, kinda! Wouldn't you be?"

"Nah. She wouldn't hurt anyone. Not really. She's all bark, no bite." Sig moved his left claw in front of his face and stared at it.

Amitie gazed at his expression from where she was lying. He seemed... sad. "Can you tell me what that is?"  
Sig didn't respond. He just sighed and flopped it back down. 

Amitie stood up and carefully stepped around Sig so she could examine his hand. "It's really cool." she offered.

"Meh... It's just big. And red." Sig avoided her gaze.

"How'd you get it?" Amitie pressed.

"Dunno."

Amitie remembered what Lidelle said about Sig and his demon parts. He doesn't care about them, and goes about his life without worrying about. Amitie wondered about that. There was something in Sig's face that said that it bothered him a lot.

Suddenly, Sig's eyes locked onto something behind her, and his right arm, the human one, sprang out of nowhere and past her hair. Amitie squeaked and tumbled backwards. Sig let out a triumphant noise.

"I got it!"

Amitie was sprawled in the grass, extremely confused. "Got what?"  
"A bug!"

Ah. Of course.

"It was on your hat." Sig added.

Amitie scrambled into an upright position. "It was WHAT?!"

"Hi there, little buggy." Sig murmured. Amitie peered over his shoulder. A deep green beetle was crawling around in his hand. Amitie felt both fascinated and sick. She shuddered.

"That was on me? Eurgh!"

Sig gave her an odd look. "Don't you think he's cool?"

"Sure, if it wasn't crawling all over me first!" 

He shrugged. "I'm gonna name him June. Hiya, June. I wanna show you my other friends back at home."

Amitie started to grow curious. "Do you keep the bugs, Sig?"

"No... I let them go... but not before I can watch them first." Sig carefully stuck the beetle in a tiny cage.

"That's cool, but... Why do you like bugs so much?"  
Sig stopped what he was doing and sat there. He appeared to be pondering the question, as if he'd never asked it himself. After a minute of silence, Amitie had to lean in to hear him.

"...They're like me." he gave Amitie a solemn look. "They're exactly like me."

Amitie thought about this response. It was, more or less, true. Sig and bugs, they both have unlikable parts about them. They both carry on with their lives, not caring what other creatures think. Sig was used to being watched, and watching other people. Bugs, no doubt, were the same in that aspect.

Amitie opened her mouth to reply, when a scream cut her off. Immediately Amitie popped up and whipped around, trying to locate the source of the distress. From the corner of her eye, she saw that Sig, too, was looking around.

"There." he pointed with his claw. Out from a distance, a small green dot was running toward them. Amitie, leaving behind the flowers she had picked, began to run in that direction too, and saw that it was Lidelle. 

"Lidelle!" Amitie ran up to her panting. "Lidelle, wh-what's wrong?"

"A-Ami!" Lidelle stopped to take a breather. "Amitie, Sig, where is Ms. Accord? Please, it's very urgent!"

"Urgent? Lidelle, what happened?" Amitie asked, confused. "I don't know where the teacher is right now..."

"Ohhhh... This is bad... Okay, well, you two are the next best things." Lidelle tugged on her sleeve with her own. "Come on! A bunch of Puyos suddenly dropped out of a hole in a sky! Raffina was underneath, and now-"

Amitie needed no more explanation. "Got it! Let's go!"

  



	5. A Mountain of Puyo???

Chapter 5

The three friends ran off towards the back of the school. When they got there, Amitie gasped. The entire area, a basketball court, was covered with stories upon stories of puyos. It was more puyos than she'd ever seen in her life. Right in front, already making a slight dent in the vast number of puyos, was Klug and TaruTaru. Amitie couldn't see Raffina anywhere, which proved her suspicion to be true.

"Klug! TaruTaru!" Amitie called to them. They both stopped what they were doing and turned.

"Amitie!" Klug shouted. "Raffina's buried underneath this astronomically gigantic amount of puyo! If we don't hurry and pop them, she'll suffocate!"  
Taru held something out in front of him. "All we've retrieved so far is this... her waist bag."

Amitie took the handbag, the one that gave Raffina the power that she'd need in order to get out of this mess herself. "This is bad... Unless she can karate-chop the puyo into oblivion, but..."

"Where's Ms. Accord?" Klug demanded. "There's no way we can get to her in time with our limited power!"

Lidelle shook her head. "We c-couldn't find her. We'll have t-to make do."

Klug growled with frustration. "Well, then, hurry up! We need to hurry!"

Amitie ran beside him and stared at the mountain of puyos. Suddenly she felt very small and weak. She glanced at her hands. Could she do this? How could she muster enough power to pop all of these puyos? But Raffina was in there, suffocating. She couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

She remembered what her teacher had told her. Her magic stems from the heart of the user. She felt for Raffine. She wanted to apologize, and make things right. She wanted to keep her friendships with Lidelle, Klug, TaruTaru, and Sig. But none of that could happen if she didn't do something about the puyo right now.

Suddenly, an idea popped in her head. She looked at Raffina's bag, and opened it up. Inside, a swirling wind of power blew into her face. Amitie gasped, and nearly dropped the bag, but she allowed the bag to give her the extra oomph she needed.

The energy was filling Amitie up, and now was the time for action. "I'm coming, Raffina!" she shouted and jumped into the pile of puyos. 

"Flame!" Out of her hands bursted a volcano of flame powerful enough to scorch the ground for miles. "Wh-whoa! Holy cow!"

Amitie stared at the damage. Left and right, puyos popped in chains and sheerly out of burntness. Amitie figured that her own magic, combined with the magic from the bag, could really whip up something powerful. 

"Okay... let's try this! Cyclowhirl!" Immediately a blizzard whisked through, freezing any puyo in front of her solid.

From behind her, she heard the shouts of her friends.

"Nebula! Ignis! Prominence! DEFECTIO LUNAE!" Klug spoke rapidly and swiftly raced through, sparks and magic circles appearing before his cursed book.

"V-Vento! ...Uragano! Tifone! A-ARCOBALENO!" Lidelle's shaky voice grew steadily stronger as winds as powerful as hurricane forces tore into the wall.

"Very well! Stream! STAMP! EARTHQUAKE!" TaruTaru's deep voice resonated across the yard as he smooshed his way through the puyo.

"Cyan...! Paraiba! Lapis Lazuli! ...HYDRANGEA!" his normally emotionless tone tinted with determination, Sig added to the masses, slicing through the masses with his red claw. 

Amitie felt encouraged by the fighting spirit of her friends. She couldn't let them down now. "Fairy Fair!" a flash of light blinded her and did away with all the puyo in a twenty-foot-radius. From above, the puyos that were stacked started to wobble, then fall.

"Incoming!" she called to the allies. She pointed at the stacks. "Ekrisis!" a giant bolt of lightning cracked from her finger and split, reaching its electric claws to anything that moved in front of her.

With a wince she realized that she needed to be more careful. One wrong move, and her power might mistake a friend for a puyo. Amitie focused on clearing her mind and her heart at the task at hand. No more distractions. She couldn't afford to hurt someone again.

"Accel!" A magic circle appeared under her feet and spread, clearing away anything in the area she stood.

She was getting close. She could feel it. The others were making an extreme dent in the masses too, which made things much easier.

Alright, one last move, Amitie. Don't lose control. "BAYOEEN!" 

She felt it. She could feel time slow down. She could see the many combinations in which the puyo could be popped. 6-Chains... 8-Chains... 12-Chains... all of the possibilities. It was almost too much for her brain to process.

Calm down, Amitie. Your heart will take care of this...

With a clean flick of her hand she swiped chain after chain after chain. All the puyos around her responded like a stack of dominoes, falling in on each other and disappearing, until all that was left was a few extra and a shivering, dirty girl gasping for breath.

Time continued. Amitie fell to her knees, wheezing. She had never actually completed the Bayoeen spell before, not like this. Even now, she had only done it with the power of Raffina's bag. 

Her head was pounding and the world was blurred and spinning.

She didn't see or hear them, but her friends had rushed to her side.

They were probably talking about the sudden disappearance of hundreds of puyos, but Amitie couldn't focus. Or maybe they were just worried about her. Again, she couldn't focus.

As her head stopped ringing, one particular person came into Amitie's view. It was Raffina, smudged with dirt and still catching her breath, but alive. 

Amitie dropped her bag at her feet and immediately the remains of Raffina's magic inside of Amitie exploded. A fireball, just like the one in the classroom, burst up and was about to make a screaming Raffina's day so much worse when-

It was bounced away. Amitie, still out of it, could barely see the outline of her teacher, Ms. Accord with a shield wrapped protectively around Raffina. Her teacher knelt by Amitie and Amitie suddenly felt warm. Warm and newly energized. And as quickly as she came, she left.

  



	6. End of the First Day

Chapter 6

"Wh-what? Ms... Accord?" Amitie blinked. Now that she could tell her surroundings and understand fully what just happened, she saw Lidelle and Sig at her side, looking very worried, and Klug and TaruTaru standing at Raffina's side, staring at Amitie like she was about to go to her own funeral. 

Amitie groaned and stood up. "Guys... what happened? For those last few moments, my head... hurts..."

"I'll tell you what happened." Raffina's familiarly angry voice exclaimed. "You almost incinerated me, that's what! Again! You're just a dangerous pit of magic, aren't you? You could have killed me!"

"Hey, now! Raffina, Amitie just saved your life! She unleashed the most powerful Bayoeen I've ever seen, completely cleared away all of the puyo!" Klug exclaimed, his feud with Raffina once again reborn. 

Amitie jumped in at the untrue statement. "Uh, wait, but I-" 

"Yeah, Amitie was amazing!" Lidelle clutched Amitie's arm. "And she did all of that just for you! With her magic alone!"  
Amitie winced. She knew Lidelle meant well, but she was adding fuel to the fire. Raffina was steadily growing angrier by the second. 

Sig knew it too. "Actually..."

Everyone turned to look at Sig. "Amitie... Was that really just you?"

Silence befell the group. Amitie gave each one of them a look, then shook her head. "I've been trying to tell you guys. It wasn't just me. It was..." her voice trailed off, looking at Raffina's furious face, then at her bag. Amitie smiled to herself. For now, she'd keep Raffina's secret. "It was you guys too. Your cheering. Your determination. Your willingness to help your friend. That's what powered me up so much! After all, magic does stem from the heart... yeah?"

Whew. That was the most elaborate lie she'd ever told. However, now that she did think about it, it was rather true in its own way. It was because of her friends strength and their encouragement that she dug down and found the courage she needed in order to keep her magic under control.

There was a moment of silence again, when Klug spoke up. "That doesn't make any logical sense! Those are just feelings! That was the cheesiest thing I've ever heard!"

Everyone started laughing. Amitie let them laugh, at least they accepted her response. She turned to Sig and gave him a wink, hoping that was enough for him to keep his mouth shut about the whole thing. She wasn't worried though. Sig, albeit the spaciest, and the least understood, was the one who Amitie trusted the most. He gave her a knowing smile back.

"Hold up!" Raffina shouted. She grabbed Amitie's arm and dragged her away from the group so they could talk quietly.

Amitie flustered, asked. "Uh, what's wrong?"

Raffina glared at her and hissed. "I don't trust you. Nor do I believe you. Believe it or not, I saw you holding my bag. Do you know what it is?"

"Uh-umm..." Amitie stammered.

"DO YOU?"

"Y-yes!" the blond girl sighed. "Yeah, I do. I used a bit of it to power me up in order to take down the puyo. My power, along with its power, we demolished. I'm really sorry for using it. I just wasn't sure how else to get you out in time. And then I didn't want to give away your secret, that you don't have-"

"Enough." Raffina placed her hands on her hips. "...Amitie, do you know how lucky you are?"  
"How- what?"

"Your power- stems from yourself. My power- stems from a stupid bag." Raffina spat the last word. "Oh sure, I can do karate, and other forms of martial arts. But I had to work to be who I am. You don't know how lucky you are, that you're just a magical child prodigy."

Amitie opened her mouth, but nothing came out. What was she supposed to say? "...No, Raffina.... I don't know how lucky I am. I don't know what its like to work so hard day after day, and then to find some goody-two-shoes who can work her magic without straining herself. I don't know what it's like to feel replaced and rejected, and to have bitter feelings manifest inside you." she sighed, but then continued slowly. "What I do know is... I want to start over. Be your friend. Help you out. And maybe... you can teach me how to control my magic, so I don't explode again?"

The offer took Raffina aback. For a moment she seemed like she considered it. But then she took a good long look at her bag. "...No."

Amitie faltered. "N...no?"

"That's not going to happen. I can't let you surpass me. Not after all I've been through." Raffina growled. "Don't you see, you idiot?! This can't happen! All of my years of work, going down the drain, and you ask me to help you?!"

Amitie, the Amitie from this morning, would have cowered in fear. But this school day taught her something. It taught her that no matter how hard someone pushes against you, you still need to push back, in order to do what's right. Courage.

"Raffina, listen to me! I'm not here to take your place. I don't even mind if you don't take me up on the training offer! I just want to be your friend, do you hear?! A friend! Not a rival, a friend!" Amitie held out her hand. "Please, give me a chance! I don't want to be better than you. I just want to be your friend."

"You just don't give up, do you?!" Raffina pushed her away. "I can't! You moron! I've told you why, I-"

Suddenly, Raffina grew silent. Amitie still had her hand outstretched in front of her. But this time, she had taken off her Red Puyo Hat. The hat glimmered for a second, then died down. Raffina's gaze went from her hat, to her hand, to Amitie's face.

"Are you saying that..."

"Yeah." Amitie twirled a finger in her hat. "Without this, my power... is uncontrollable! I mean, I literally can't use it without something blowing up, like today... My hat is the real reason why I've gotten this far. It's a part of my identity, literally. Look, it just winked at you!" in unison, the hat gave Raffina a wink. "...Anyways, I'm really not that strong at all, Raffina. I want to be able to take this hat off one day and say that I'm strong enough, but today is not that day."

Amitie placed the hat back onto her head. "So now... do you want to try being friends?"

Raffina hesitated. "...Fine. Let's try. For now. And I despise the idea of friends. We're rivals, now, Amitie."

And with that, they shook hands. 

They walked back, acting as if nothing ever happened. "What happened?" Lidelle whispered to Amitie. 

"Oh nothing." she hummed happily. "Raffina and I? We're cool now."

"Really?!" she exclaimed. "Th-that's great! I knew you'd g-get through to her eventually."

"You did? How?"

Lidelle giggled. "J-just a feeling." 

"Hey, Amitie." from behind Amitie, Sig's voice piped up. "Turn around."

"Uh, what? Why?" Amitie did as she was told, and immediately squeaked as Sig's human hand shot out at her shoulder for the second time that day.

"Yay! I got another one!" Sig cheered. Amitie let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. "Imma name him Chloro. Thanks Amitie!"

"How come I'm a bug magnet all of a sudden?" Amitie groaned.

"Dunno. Bugs like you? And I have a lot in common with bugs, yeah..." Sig held the bug, this one a leaf bug, out on his ruby claw for her to see. Amitie had to admit, the leaf bug was pretty cool. ...That's when it hit her.

"Wait, what did you say?"

"...uh...What did I what?"

"You just said. Just now!"

Sig scratched his head innocently. "Dunno."

"Sig!" Amitie shook her head. She was almost positive Sig meant that he liked her. Well, she did too. He was a neat guy friend. Friend who was a guy. Yeah.

With those thoughts collecting in a strange roundabout way, she saw Raffina back at it again with another quarrel with Klug, and TaruTaru gushing about her amazingness to himself. There was still two questions Amitie had: How was the fireball deflected? And where did those puyos come from?

Oh well. Those were questions that could wait another time. Right now, she wanted some quality time to spend with her new friends, who really changed her view on the world. No longer did she just want to become a wonderful magician...

"I'm going to become... The most wonderful magician, one that helps people rebuild relationships, friendships, and families. Yeah. That's my dream, Ms. Accord!"

"Hey, Amitie! What are you shouting at?" Klug and Raffina waved her over.

Her face turning red, Amitie laughed in embarrassment. "Nothing! Nothing at all!"

What she didn't know was that in the tree above her, sat Ms. Accord herself, stroking her cat puppet Popoi. "I'm very happy to hear that Amitie. I'm sure you'll work hard for your dream."

Her cat gave her a bemused look. "Ya know, Accord, there's going to be questions about those puyos in the future, meow."

"Oh, I don't doubt it. For now, it'll be staged as a warping accident from that nice blue-cladded girl, Arle's world. That'll be very believable."

"And if som-eow-one finds out you did it?"

"Don't worry about such things, Popoi."

Popoi pondered this. "What about that incrrrrrredibly hasty shield you put up? Amitie, if no one else, thought she saw meou."

"Hm. What harm will it be if she knows. The important thing is that both Amitie and Raffina learned a lesson from the situation, like good little students. And they did. That is all." Ms. Accord ended her reasonings with a swish of her robe. "Come now, Popoi, we must be gone."

And with that, they were gone. Amitie thought she heard something from the tree behind her, but nothing was there. 

Ah, who was she kidding? It's not like Ms. Accord was assessing her every move up there.

Or anything.

  



End file.
